Jerusalem picks up momentum with win at leader Holon

The only way Maccabi can finish in the top eight is by beating Vitoria when the teams meet in Spain on Thursday and then also defeating Valencia.

By ALLON SINAI
Hapoel Jerusalem guard Jerome Dyson on March 25, 2018 (photo credit: UDI ZITIAT)
Hapoel Jerusalem guard Jerome Dyson on March 25, 2018
(photo credit: UDI ZITIAT)
Hapoel jerusalem’s players showed they still have plenty of fight left in them on Saturday night, beating BSl leader Hapoel Holon 88-86 on the road.
Holon was aiming to take another step towards securing the n o. 1 seed in the play - offs after defeating Maccabi tel aviv last week for its seventh straight league win and ninth consecutive victory in all when taking into account its State Cup triumph.
Holon led by as many as 10 points (60-50) in the third quarter, but Jerusalem fought back and got the better of a tight finish, with a Jerome Dyson three-pointer with 17.6 seconds to play opening a four-point gap (86-82) from which the hosts could not return.
“that’s why I’m here. I like those types of occasions,” said Dyson, who scored a team- high 19 points. “When you get a chance to make that kind of shot you have to make it.
“We played together the whole game. t hat was the biggest thing tonight,” added Dyson. “It was a group win and everybody did their part. In a season there are a lot of ups and downs. Right now we have got to take the season back up.”
Stratos Perperoglou added 18 points and seven rebounds for Jerusalem, which improved to a 13-8 record with its second straight win after previously losing its first two games under Katash.
Tu Holloway had 26 points for Holon, which fell to 16-5.
“the most important thing we can take from this game is that we didn’t lose our cool,” said Katash. “We kept our composure and this is a nice win. there is still a long road ahead of us.”
BSl action continues on Sunday, with Maccabi tel aviv aiming to forget about its euro league struggles for at least one evening and move tied with Holon when it hosts Ironi nahariya. Maccabi’s hopes of returning to the quarterfinals are hanging by a thread after it dropped two games behind Baskonia Vitoria in the battle for the eighth and final ticket to the playoffs on Friday. Baskonia defeated Barcelona 86-73 to open a two-game gap over Maccabi with two games to play after the yellow-and-blue suffered a heartbreaking 76-75 home loss to panathinaikos a day earlier.
Mike James netted the game-winner with 5.8 seconds left, with Maccabi’s Deshaun Thomas missing a chance to win the encounter at the buzzer.
The only way Maccabi can finish in the top eight is by beating Vitoria when the teams meet in Spain on Thursday and then also defeating Valencia on the road in its final regular season game, while hoping Baskonia unexpectedly slips up at home against one of the weakest teams in the competition in efes Istanbul.